The Detroit Red Wings had won 23 consecutive games at Joe Louis Arena, their advantage at home reaching Kevin McAllister-levels of unbelievability. Visitors to the building were bombarded with a dizzying array of booby traps — flamethrowers inside doorways, tar on the steps, paint cans thrown over balconies, Micro Machines on the floor, and, of course, Pavel Datsyuk lying in front of the doggy door, firing his air soft rifle into the unsuspecting groins of those that dare oppose him. It was a nightmarish place for unwanted visitors.

However, despite the Red Wings’ best efforts to break the Canucks’ spirits like the Wet/Sticky Bandits, they forgot to account for the flooded basement next door (played in this metaphor by Alex Burrows). And sadly, like the pigeon lady in the sequel, Jimmy Howard was unable to be the creepy bearded neighbour with the snow shovel. Yes, I’ve watched Home Alone many times. But tonight, I watched this game.

Canucks 4 – 3 Red Wings (SO)

The Canucks took it to the Red Wings early on in this game, outshooting Detroit 17-5 through the first period. This is doubly impressive when you consider the Wings weren’t the only team trying to assert themselves in the opening frame: the officiating crew was clearly determined to make their mark, sending the Canucks to the box three times on some pretty silly calls. My favourite was Daniel Sedin getting penalized for being pushed into Jimmy Howard by Ian White. After the call, I threw a plate on the floor, then blamed the plate for making a mess.

Despite dominating momentum, the Canucks went into the first intermission trailing by a goal. Why? Because nothing negates momentum like an egregious error. Kevin Bieksa made one such error in the first, trying to drag a puck around Darren Helm at the blueline despite having less high support than an old hippie lady. Helm flubbed the shot, but it flopped past Luongo. Like an old hippie lady.

That completely senseless drag move among one of many overly nonchalant plays that Bieksa made in this game. He was so casual with the puck, I began to wonder if he and it were fighting. Or maybe he was afraid to make the stanchion jealous?

The Canucks got the goal back, however, as Daniel Sedin scored a tap-in at the side of the goal after Henrik Sedin tipped an Alex Edler shot right to him. It was a strange play, as Henrik was in the air while his pass was on the ice. It was like an upside-down saucer pass. I kept expecting everyone to fall up all of a sudden.

Mason Raymond continues to the good kind of menace through the neutral zone and the terrible kind of menace (i.e. The Phantom Menace) once he crosses the blue line. On one shift, he beat his man cleanly to enter the offensive zone with all sorts of room, only to fire the puck so badly wide that it caromed around, back into the neutral zone, and kicked off a 2-on-1 for the Wings.

Because Alain Vigneault’s a smart coach, he paired Cody Hodgson with Raymond for the shift that led to the 2-2 goal, likely hoping Raymond would gain the zone and Cody would be able to do something with it. That’s exactly what happened: Raymond brought the puck in with gusto, ringing it around the boards. Eventually, it came to Hodgson, who showed an offensive patience Raymond simply doesn’t have: he considered a slapshot, curled away because he was being pressured, moved down the boards, then saw that the pressure was gone and cut back to the forehand and threw it in front. Raymond was nearby, but lucky for everyone, he didn’t touch this puck. It went off Niklas Kronwall’s skate — a more viable offensive option — and in.

Then, on the very next shift, you saw why Vigneault still doesn’t quite trust Hodgson defensively. The rookie centre stayed out, and after Aaron Rome was beaten wide (rather easily) by Drew Miller on a zone entry, the puck found its way in front, where Hodgson was completely outworked by Justin Abdelkader for the goal.

John Garrett’s senseless line of the night: ”Roberto Luongo saves that 9 out of 10 times, or shall I say, 99 out of 100 times.” No, you shall not say. That’s a 9% difference.

I’m beginning to get a sense for Chris Tanev: he’s like the Henrik Sedin of the defense corps. It doesn’t matter how open the shooting lane, dammit — he’s a passer. The kid had two or three beautiful, open chances on the night, and each time he passed. On a few occasions, it was clever, such as when he was on the ice with the Sedins, but on a few other occasions, it was insanity. Granted, he clearly doesn’t have much of a shot yet: he directed two shots on goal this evening, both of which were blocked, but neither made enough of an impact on the stat-counters to be registered as such. When no one notices your shot, you’re clearly not good at shooting.

I’ve heard people say the Canucks should take it easy since they’re probably not going to finish below second, but the Red Wings’ home winning streak, while finished, is evidence is why winning the Conference matters: the way Detroit is playing at home, you don’t want to go into a series in which they have four games there.

I liked two David Booth plays very much tonight: the first was when he got Kronwalled, only to get up, take the puck right at Kronwall, then throw it to him and crosscheck him to the ice. The second was when he blew through the neutral zone in the dying seconds, only failing to tie the game on a breakaway because he couldn’t get the puck up. David Booth rules.

Roberto Luongo was lucky not to have to face Pavel Datsyuk in the shootout, but let’s not take anything away from him. He was excellent all night and especially so in the shootout, where he stopped all three shooters including Jiri Hudler and Todd Bertuzzi, both of whom are among the best in the league. Granted, Bertuzzi came in slower than a Mr. Burns gutter ball, but still.

All of this set the stage for Alex Burrows, who ended the Red Wings’ streak by beating Jimmy Howard with trusty ol’ blue steel. As he said to me once, it’s a move that, if done right, can’t be stopped, and he did it to perfection. Afterward, he celebrated by pretending to break his stick over his knee, just as he did after scoring that breakaway goal versus the Hurricanes four years ago. It was neat to see him break that out again.

And finally, it was amusing watching Twitter erupt with people claiming it was some kind of travesty that the Red Wings’ 23-game home winning streak ended in a shootout, as though it shouldn’t count. Sure, it was a lame way to end both an incredible game and an incredible streak, but if you’re gonna toss an asterisk on the end, you’ve also got to put one next to wins 13, 16, and 19, since those all ended in shootouts as well. That’s just silly. Either everything gets an asterisk or nothing does, and as far as I’m concerned, heavy asterisk use is for cleaning up curse-heavy sentences. Everything else is a ***** steaming piece of ***** *****, you know?

65 comments

Steven Ray Orr

“Daniel finished with a game-high 9 shots attempted, eight of which hit the next”

Thank goodness. I hated that movie. I hope he hit it right in the Nicolas Cage.

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Rating: +3 (from 3 votes)

Michelle

February 23, 2012

What? No Arrested Development reference? I’m sad.

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Rating: -1 (from 1 vote)

gumby

February 23, 2012

No mention of Shorty’s “lotion in the basket” reference? My goodness! It made my evening.

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Rating: +10 (from 10 votes)

Harrison Mooney

February 23, 2012

I heard that. It was weird. Wasn’t sure what to make of it.

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Rating: +9 (from 9 votes)

Steven Ray Orr

February 23, 2012

More frequently I find myself unable to defend the Johns. This is troubling, because nobody that I watch the games with complains. Clearly, their madness is starting to bother me on an unconscious level that I am not willing to deal with.

I particularly enjoyed Shorty’s “Holy S***!” after Hamhuis’ fantastic zone-clear towards the end of the 3rd.

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Rating: -1 (from 9 votes)

Shade of Blue

February 24, 2012

I took it to be a sign that PITB is slowly influencing the rest of the Canucks ‘verse. Shorty dropped a the Silence of the Lambs reference to explain that he couldn’t read AV’s lips and that he wouldn’t even hazard a guess, since he might misinterpret it as something like the famous line from the movie.

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John in Marpole

February 24, 2012

I took that reference as Shorty channeling ‘The Scottish Conan Guy’ Craig Ferguson.

Ferguson uses that quote from Silence of the Lambs with some regularity.

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Cody

February 24, 2012

It was the comment I guessed you were going to comment on. I’m not famous for my guesses.. or my comments.

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Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)

Laplander

February 25, 2012

I know this is late but here is a lovely video of the song version…

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gumby

February 23, 2012

Just saw the comment above mine and am chagrinned to be a nitpicker.

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Shand

February 23, 2012

You had me at Kevin McAllister.

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Rating: +8 (from 10 votes)

Michael

February 23, 2012

I loved Luongo’s “THANK YOU DETROIT”! bow after the win.

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Rating: +21 (from 23 votes)

hockeyispretty

February 24, 2012

Yeah, pity Luongo’s celebration got overshadowed by Burrows’. It was almost like a dance. Must have animated gif…

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Rating: +5 (from 5 votes)

JAbraham

February 24, 2012

There’s one over at nucksmisconduct in VanCityDan’s game recap.

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Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

By-Tor

February 24, 2012

Bieksa had a few very generous giveaways, in the first half of the game. He must have thought he was Dan Hamhuis at a charity event, but luckily he seemed to figure out he was actually Kevin Bieksa in a hockey game by the third period.

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Rating: +18 (from 18 votes)

iceman

February 24, 2012

… And I thought Wings would take the home win #24 until Danny made sure it didn’t happen, with 15 seconds remaining. Then Burr sucked the life out of the party with the “unstoppable” SO move.

The games against Detroit are always intense and I have a feeling these two teams will cross their paths at some point this spring – Hopefully in late May.

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Rating: +10 (from 10 votes)

Shade of Blue

February 24, 2012

John Garrett’s senseless line of the night: ”Roberto Luongo saves that 9 out of 10 times, or shall I say, 99 out of 100 times.” in fairness to John, I took him to mean that he had changed his mind — as he said it he probably realized that Lu stops better than 9 of 10 of _all_ shots, and he wanted to emphasize that a good to great NHL goalie will stop virtually all shots like that one.

Garrett’s truly senseless line of the night, IMO, came during his forced exchange with Shorty in their nightly plug for Alcatraz. Garrett suggested that he had a cousin or friend or someone who had a friend who worked on the show, and that after the trip he could go visit the set. He said something to the effect of ‘maybe I could get a walk on role as one of the extras, maybe one of the guards.’. Setting aside the absurdity of this suggestion, I loved Shorty’s response ‘oh yeah, you’d intimidate me!’ I can’t be the only one who thought of the scene in Shawshank when Andy and the other ‘fresh meat’ arrive, with Garrett in the role of Lardass, the prisoner who breaks.

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John in Marpole

February 24, 2012

The references to Alcatraz are connected to Scott Rintoul’s role on that show, as a guard.

Garrett has mentioned ithe show/Rintoul’s part more than once when he has been interviewed on 1040.

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whisky jack

February 24, 2012

Overrated?
Debated!
Contemplated….

After Thursday at the Joe
Is there anybody doesn’t know?

If you watched the game I saw,
Then this conclusion you can draw:
Despite what recent polls may say,
Vancouver could go all the way.

Vindicated!

Whisky Jack

Although I wrote this poem before
I saw the game and knew the score,
From where I sat it sure did seem
Mostoft we were the better team!

Elated!

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Rating: +12 (from 14 votes)

Shade of Blue

February 24, 2012

Anybody else have mixed feelings about watching Bertuzzi play such fine two-way hockey? I trout Garrett made a good observation that it was weird to see Bert skating hard at both ends of the ice after watching him float so often during games the latter part of his time in Vancouver.

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Rating: +7 (from 9 votes)

Shade of Blue

February 24, 2012

”thought”, not ‘trout’

I fly fishing autocorrect.

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peanutflower

February 24, 2012

I think I must be developing autocorrect blindness because I never even noticed the “trout”. Yes, it was annoying to see good old Bert, who truly is one of the best power forwards going — love the one-arm move — play hard. I clearly remember him gliding through games. It was frustrating.

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Rating: +6 (from 6 votes)

Shade of Blue

February 24, 2012

Other random thought – goofy penalty calls aside, I wouldn’t have predicted that these two teams would both be 0-for-the-season with the man advantage vs each other, especially with the number of opportunities they’ve had so far in the series.

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Rating: +8 (from 8 votes)

aidanbc

February 24, 2012

“When no one notices your shot, you’re clearly not good at shooting.”

Tell that to those two lookers on the grassy knoll.

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Rating: +24 (from 24 votes)

Phileo99

February 24, 2012

Great summary, as always.
Yeah, Hodgson got owned on the Abdelkader goal. I’ve noticed that AV usually sits Hodgson after he scores, but this time decided to “reward” his efforts with some more ice time. In his defence, I don’t think a 185lb Hodgson is a good matchup against a 219lb Abdelkader, especially down low. Of course, CoHo’s going to have to face these kinds of physical situations sooner or later, so may as well learn now how to avoid those situations.
Anyone else notice that Hodgson’s goal and Booth’s breakaway were both on a new line combo (Hodgson, Booth, Raymond) ? While they looked impressive, speedy, and dangerous, I’m not sure what AV’s intention was with that line combo. If AV is still looking for a checking line, that isn’t it. In my mind, 1st and 4th lines are pretty much set (Burr/Sedins, Lappy/Malholtra/Weise/Bitz), whereas the 2nd and 3rd lines are more fluid, and interchangeable, depending on the situation.

The Canucks vs. Bruins matchup was great for settling some old scores, and resolving some unfinished business.
The Canucks vs. Red Wings, however, was great for the pure skill on skill. Both are candidates for THE best NHL game of this season.
Neither of them, however, were a HNIC matchup, imagine that. Does CBC even know how to run a business beyond the confines of Toronto?

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Rating: +13 (from 19 votes)

invisibleairwaves

February 24, 2012

I’ve got a few gripes with HNIC, but this one doesn’t make sense to me. I’m pretty sure the CBC doesn’t have the power to dictate arena scheduling in Detroit just so this particular game ends up being on a Saturday night. As for the Bruins game, there was a Wings/Leafs game in the 7pm slot and I’m pretty sure the Bruins weren’t going to start a home game at 10pm local time. No doubt HNIC would love to get the most exciting games, but it isn’t always possible to do so.

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hockeyispretty

February 24, 2012

HNIC couldn’t have claimed this, but could easily have aired the Saturday canucks-bruins matchup.

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John Andress

February 24, 2012

HNIC don’t even know that there are confines beyond Toronto.

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Rating: +10 (from 12 votes)

Nick

February 24, 2012

Putting the goal scorer or the entire scoring line out for the next shift after a goal is an AV trademark move. But I wish he’d drop this. Sometimes the goal comes at the end of a long shift, and then AV (I guess as a reward) has the same, now tired, players face off against a fresh line.

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Rating: +4 (from 8 votes)

tom selleck's moustache

February 24, 2012

“Raymond was nearby, but lucky for everyone, he didn’t touch this puck. It went off Niklas Kronwall’s skate — a more viable offensive option — and in.”

This made me snort. Poor Mase, no offensive zone love.

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Rating: +15 (from 15 votes)

SteveB

February 24, 2012

[cynical Canucks fan]Surprised the goal wasn’t waived off by the Toronto War Room for a “distinct kicking motion”[/cynical Canucks fan]
;^)

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akidd

February 24, 2012

great game. i agree with your take on raymond’s o-zone prowess. it’s been like that for over a year, minus the two weeks right after he came back. but it’s interesting how you don’t see booth in the same way. i love it when he crashes the net and he certainly is an energizer bunny out there but is also pretty ineffective carrying the puck into the o-zone. he just shoots from anywhere and it’s not a great shot. he raely even contemplates the pass let alone completes one. a lot of examples in tonight’s game. low percentage shots with no traffic.

i think that 2nd line plays like three individuals. raymond was done passing to booth by the 3rd because he knew he’d never see the puck again. the h line has developed twice the chemistry in much less time and are working as a unit, in it together.

booth just chasing the puck like a black lab after a ball and not seeing anything except what’s right in front of him plays no small part in the lack of 2nd-line cohesiveness(legs are great to have but eyes, hands and brains are good too.) and kesler’s track record as a playmaker is…well…non-existant. they play good d but sure disapoint on the rush for such speedsters.

and to me tanev took another step tonight jumping up on the rush and getting involved offensively while playing solid defensive minutes against some pretty good players. thought he had a great game. and was pretty sure one of those shots got through but it’s not on the scoresheet.

the 3rd goal was all on rome imo. hodgson totally didn’t expect him to whiff . gotta get back i agree but being a little stunno there is understandable. guy can’t get two secs to savour another clutch goal in a big game?

but a great game. ferocious hockey coming across like some of the best ever.

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Rating: +13 (from 13 votes)

Matt

February 24, 2012

I don’t know if anyone saw it but what made me laugh was watching Danny tie the game at one in the second period, only to have Henrik stroke his face in celebration.

hockeyispretty

Ha! I think he was aiming to tap him on top of the twins. Twin psychic coordination malfunction there.

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Garl Vin

February 24, 2012

Hey, PITB crew:

I’ve been reading your column for awhile. I love the content, but I must say…get with the times when it comes to hyperlinks. Tell your admin or whoever to change it so that when we click on your multitude of intertextual references we don’t have to right-click/open in new window/tab. Every other page on the internet opens a new page when you click a hyperlink. Then, when I come here, I lose my place in the article and have to find it again. A minor annoyance.

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Rating: +6 (from 8 votes)

Harrison Mooney

February 24, 2012

Huh. This didn’t even occur to me. We’ll look into it. In the meantime, if you’re holding down the command button when you click a link, it opens it in a new tab.

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Brosef Stalin

February 24, 2012

Command Button? COMMAND BUTTON?! HE’S BLOGGING FROM A MAC! GET HIM!

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Rating: +8 (from 12 votes)

Steve Lockhart

February 25, 2012

He’s not playing video games; he’s doing real work. Of course he’s using a Mac.

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SteveB

February 24, 2012

Another Huh?
Hyperlinks within the PITB text open in a new tab for me.
/Firefox 10.0.2

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Rituro

February 24, 2012

Also, clicking your middle mouse button or scroll wheel will, by default, open a new tab. I just saved you a valuable second!

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Rating: +6 (from 6 votes)

J21

February 24, 2012

I thought I saw Tanev get a shot through on the game highlights too. Probably missed the net, but not blocked.

It’s too bad that David Booth didn’t get to play hero on either of his glorious chances (breakaway to tie, shootout chance to win) with all his family finally in attendance at a local game. (His brother was supposed to be a Green Man, but I don’t think he was in the end?) Would have been a nice story. With the way things turned out, I guess that pretty much conclusively disproves Christianity. (It had a good run). I’m just sayin’…

Speaking of the Booths, his dad’s dental practice is called “The Tooth Booth”. I feel like Bil Keane draws the Booth family, and that “Not Me” and “Ida Know” should be fixtures in it. If they were any more wholesome, they would be owned by General Mills.

Re: “the streak”. You don’t have to call it marked by an asterisk, you can just call it what it was — an unbeaten streak, as opposed to a true “winning” streak. (If we don’t acknowledge that shootout decisions are hockey ties, then the record book is going to fly out the window even more than it already has). And frankly, the Wings losing a shootout decision doesn’t really break it (or one can add “regulation unbeaten” if it is one’s cup of tea to be technical), although it does break the “Obtaining two points at home under somewhat illogical NHL rules” streak.

But yeah, after an emotional game like this, I just don’t like it when fans come away with the impression that their team played well if they won the shootout, or played poorly if they lost the shootout. Seriously, they played the same game either way. I’m ecstatic that the Canucks picked up two points, but the excitement for me was in their late-game heroics to tie it. The idea that the Wings should be crestfallen and the Canucks elated after the shootout (and both teams were like that!) — and that the reactions would be opposite if it had turned out differently — means the players are being as naïve as the fans, or at least extremely forgetful of the 65 minutes of hockey that preceded the game.

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Rating: +14 (from 14 votes)

obituary mambo

February 24, 2012

“With the way things turned out, I guess that pretty much conclusively disproves Christianity. ”

I don’t know if you follow Booth on twitter, but I find this line extra hilarious given his propensity toward tweets of the “Jesus — Yay!” variety. *laughs wickedly*

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peanutflower

February 24, 2012

I never in my lifetime thought I’d see a game in which the Canucks were a party referred to as a “clash of the titans”. I’m just going to savour that for a while.

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Rating: +21 (from 21 votes)

Nee

February 24, 2012

The Sedins were pretty great in this game. There was one shift (3rd period? not sure) that they played keep-away in the Red Wings zone the whole time, cycling the puck up and down the boards, around behind the net, up the other side, back again…

They didn’t score, but Daniel got a pretty good chance on Howard because they were able to make the Wings get tired.

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Rating: +7 (from 7 votes)

bearspaw

February 24, 2012

I watched this game…twice! My PVR cut out with 2 minutes left in regulation. Tuned back in with 10 minutes left in the game repeat. Late night yelling at our house…awesome ending to a well played game

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Rating: +6 (from 6 votes)

JDM

February 24, 2012

Tanev got a shot – on the first period play where Henrik was robbed, it came back to the point and Tanev put a puck on Howard but didn’t get all of it.

Innovation

sarah

February 24, 2012

I think she’s in high school…

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Rating: +8 (from 8 votes)

Cathylu

February 24, 2012

Dang, I missed all the Garrett and Shorty stuff as I had to listen to the game on the radio (we were driving out of town). We got to our destination when there was about a minute left in regulation. My husband went outside and his radio cut out – I was still listening to mine in the house – and he heard me scream when Daniel scored. Woo! We then found a live feed so we watched the OT and SO on our phone. So exciting! I’m looking forward to re-watching the entire game later.

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Rating: +4 (from 4 votes)

sarah

February 24, 2012

Max Lapierre’s reaction to the goal in the final seconds was my favourite thing. I almost missed overtime because I had to rewind it several times to laugh at the way he full on tackled Manny.

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Rating: +13 (from 13 votes)

Doug

February 24, 2012

If Bertuzzi had skated any slower on his shootout move he would have been guilty of losing his own forward momentum.

Great game for fans of hockey. period.

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Rating: +8 (from 8 votes)

Brent

February 24, 2012

Agree that this was a great game. Even better than the December win against Toronto in terms of speed and hockey skill, but not quite as meaningful as the win against Boston.

Bieksa certainly did have some defensive lapses. When is he going to figure out that he can’t count on Hamhuis to bail him out when he tries to be an offensive force.

hey harrison, love you witty comments. Always a pleasure to read. You must be fun at the bar as well?

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bergberg

February 24, 2012

Are you asking him out??

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Brent

February 24, 2012

I wouldn’t say asking him out per say, but I think he would be an entertaining drinking buddy with his witty humour and his vast knowledge of trivia.

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Rating: +3 (from 3 votes)

hockeyispretty

February 24, 2012

I want him for my partner next pub quiz for sure.

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Tired in NS

obituary mambo

February 24, 2012

I’m so glad I finally got the chance to see one of these amazing games the team has playing lately (I missed the ones against Toronto and Edmonton — as well as the one in Nashville, though it seems that one may not have been quite as stellar). As usual, I had to watch the American feed and the Wings homers were nattering on and on about how badly Lu’s played in SOs. At the end of the game I just wanted to stick my tongue out and say “nanny nanny boo boo”, cause the man was perfect this time round. Also: Blue Steel rules!

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Rating: +6 (from 6 votes)

Celeste Culpepper

February 24, 2012

So on the Puck Daddy blog you think the Canucks (or just Burrows) were showboating?

..”When you break someone else’s streak then celebrate like this, isn’t it just showboating?”

Aren’t you selling us out a bit, eh?
Or, do you think you have to smack the Canucks a bit in order to play in the Eastern League?

Harrison Mooney

I’m gonna do a post on this later today — it totally WAS showboating, not really a classy way to celebrate a regular-season shootout win. But I couldn’t care less as a Canucks fan. I’m cool with that.

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DanD

February 24, 2012

I had to listen to this game on the radio on my way home from school, which was problematic when the excitement level got so high at the end of the 3rd.

Dave Tomlinson had a great line about Bertuzzi’s shootout attempt:

“Todd Bertuzzi gave lackadaisical a day off!”

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Helen

February 24, 2012

I had a hard day but reading this blog lifted my spirits. Thanks for your humour.

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Randy

February 24, 2012

Really good article! Maybe it’s just because I completely agree with everything you wrote, but I still enjoy your writing style!

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Square Ball

February 25, 2012

When John Garret mentioned the Ham-Juice combination, I kept imagining a glass filled with juice made of ham. Not the most pleasant imagery.

In his defense on calculating things, I find he is generally pretty quick at calculating numbers, so I think what happened with the 99% is that he quickly realized that 9 out of 10 isn’t quite as good a number as he meant to say.

On another note, there was some vintage Sedin cycling going on during the game. I don’t remember them cycling the puck this well for a while, and it was really enjoyable to watch. Not that they lost the cycling skills, just that they have been using other wizardous ways of Sedinerie.

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warren

February 25, 2012

Harrison..fun to read as always..you will be big..what a pleasant change from the writers that think criticism should be cold

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